House Of Strangers

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ken123
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House Of Strangers

Post by ken123 »

It it really a noir > Anyway a great performance by Eddie G. The DVD has a pretty good audio commentary also. :wink:
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MissGoddess
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Post by MissGoddess »

I will have to rent the dvd for the commentary. I always try to catch it whenever it's televised. I think Conte and Susan Hayward make a great pair, and it's my favorite of his movies. But yes, Eddie G. gives another GREAT performance (and what esle is new?)

Mankiewicz is one of my favorite directors, so no small wonder I like this one very much.

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Rusty
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Is it really a noir, indeed.

Post by Rusty »

Hello,

I just returned a dvd of House Of Strangers to Netflix. Even though 20th Century Fox calls the movie "film noir", I don't think the movie fits the noir genre.

Oh...the movie includes a crime and some of the scenes are dark and Richard Conte does a fair amount of sweating (Edward G. Robinson sweats a lot), but the femme fatale? Susan Hayward is just too nice a gal to be categorized as a fatal woman. Maybe, Edward G. Robinson's idiot wife is supposed to be the femme fatale?

Everybody in the cast is top notch and I noticed Edward G. Robinson received a best actor award for his performance at the Cannes Film Festival. I want to mention the great performance by Luthur Adler. His character evolves from a whining, hen pecked family member to one evil s.o.b. and Mr. Adler becomes almost demonic as brother-son Joe Monetti. Bad Joe...bad.

Luthur Adler is a very good actor. I remember Luthur was soo bad in the John Wayne movie Wake Of The Red Witch.

I listened to about one minute of the dvd commentary track and heard too much telling me what I am seeing on my television screen...I decided to turn off the commentary. So, does the dvd commentary explain why House Of Strangers is called film noir?

By the way...the dvd of House Of Strangers includes a couple of trailers for the movies Vicki and Boomerang!. Any contributor know if Vicki and Boomerang! are worth a rental?

Rusty
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vallo
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Post by vallo »

Boomerang!. has yet to be released. I have a flyer that I received when I purchased a film (can't remember which) But it mentions all of Fox Noirs dated 9/06 Boomerang is on the list but has yet to be available ...I hope soon.

vallo
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MissGoddess
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Post by MissGoddess »

Rusty,

Boomerang is a terrfic film, but I'm not sure I'd call it a "noir" either. Vicki is a remake of the Victor Mature/Betty Grable noir I Wake Up Screaming. It's a decent remake, but I still prefer the original, which has much more atmospheric cinematography and Laird Cregar's performance is a knock-out.
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Rusty
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Laird Cregar...I wish we had more Laird Cregar(s).

Post by Rusty »

MissGoddess,

Have you watched Laird Cregar in his next to last film...The Lodger (1944)? The Lodger was on AMC not too long ago. I recorded. I watched. Laird Cregar IS Jack the Ripper. Well, Mr. Cregar calls himself "Slade"...but he IS Jack the Ripper. Laird's performance as Slade/Jack is fairly subtle. I am surprised he (Laird) was not forced by management to play the character "broader".

Laird Cregar died way too soon...much too little Laird.

Rusty
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Vienna
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Re: House Of Strangers

Post by Vienna »

Noir or not, I don't care, just love HOUSE OF STRANGERS. Conte and Hayward a great team, and of course Eddie G. Is excellent. It's such a good plot, it was used at least twice more - BROKEN LANCE and THE BIG SHOW.
I agree Luther Adler is very good.
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movieman1957
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Re: House Of Strangers

Post by movieman1957 »

I thought I had seen film's most dysfunctional family when I saw "Long Day's Journey Into Night." After having seen "House of Strangers" it certainly ranks up there among families you would least want to live with.

Edward G. Robinson plays the patriarch of the Moneti family and has long run a "bank." Trouble has been part of the family for a long time as his four sons all have different, and often low end, jobs there. He thinks he is teaching them a lesson and several of them think he is just using them and being unfair. It turns out though that they all hate each other because of it. Clearly it is not the optimal family business.

Edward G. Robinson is outstanding. He doesn't care who he insults or runs over, even his own sons if it keeps things going on the same way. Richard Conte is very good also as the one son, a lawyer, who really loves his father. It will get him in trouble for it. The other three, particularly Luther Adler shine as the oldest son who finally decides he has had enough of his father treating him the way he does. Susan Hayward is alternately cool and hot for Conte.

It is a terrific film but it can he hard to watch a family be so against each other that it comes to level of hatred of each other. Pity anyone caught up in that kind of a situation.

If nothing else watch it for Robinson but watch it.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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ChiO
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Re: House Of Strangers

Post by ChiO »

I screened this film as a part of a class on Domestic Melodrama. It went over like gangbusters, so to speak. The focus of the class discussion turned out to be on Theresa Monetti (Esther Minciotti), the Monetti matriarch and the moral center of the film.
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
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movieman1957
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Re: House Of Strangers

Post by movieman1957 »

She is the center just by being there. She has three or four lines (it seems) in the picture but her stating they had so much more when they were in Italy, they had love really puts your "wealth" in perspective. How heartbreaking for a mother to watch her family fall apart and there not be anything she can do about it.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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Professional Tourist
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Re: House Of Strangers

Post by Professional Tourist »

I suspected I had seen this film some years back, and watched it (again) this evening due to this discussion. It's definitely a good picture, worth watching more than once. Excellent performances, particularly from EGR and Richard Conte. Was surprised by the very young Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as the youngest son, and even younger Debra Paget as Conte's one-time fiancee. Hope Emerson, Vecchiolarry's old friend, is here too, as mother of the future bride. Some of the players are difficult to believe as italian, but they pull it off more or less.

In some ways it feels like a precursor of "The Godfather" -- and not just for the presence of Richard Conte. :wink: The matriarch of the family is just as powerless here although much more unhappy. The big difference is in the partriach's attitude toward his children. Vito Corleone is a demonstratively loving father and husband, which manifests in a tight-knit, loving family; while Gino Monetti takes most opportunities to put down/keep down 3/4 of his sons, which fosters a cool atmosphere of jealousy and hatred. No "wine-colored days warmed by the sun" here.
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